1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to bicycles, and particularly to a saddle for use on a racing bicycle, for example.
2. Description of the Background Art
Since the cushioning property of a saddle for use on a bicycle determines whether the bicycle is comfortable to ride on, improving the cushioning property is extremely important to improve the quality of the entirety of the bicycle.
FIG. 7 is a side view showing a conventional saddle for use on a bicycle.
This bicycle saddle has an elastically deformable dome-like saddle body (1) and base wire (21), like a spring rod, mounted on the bottom surface of the saddle body (1) and fixed on the seat post (7). The saddle body (1) further includes a top plate (11) forming the top wall and a side plate (12) hanging down from its periphery.
When a rider sits on the top plate (11) of the saddle body (1), the body weight of the rider causes the top plate (11) to elastically deform, or to cave in in the center. It also causes the side plate (12) hanging down from the periphery of the top plate (11) to elastically deform so as to fanwise spread out. Then the top plate (11) and the side plate (12) produce an elastic recovery force to recover their original form, which elastically supports the body of the rider on the saddle body (1) as cushion.
The quantity of deformation of the saddle body (1) with the rider seated thereon depends on the body weight of the rider. Accordingly, even with the same bicycle saddle, the cushioning property exerted by the saddle body (1) varies depending on the body weight of the rider.
Furthermore, since evaluation of the cushioning property varies from person to person, the comfortableness of bicycle saddles with the same shape will be evaluated in a variety of ways among riders.
Thus the basis of evaluation of the cushioning property of bicycle saddles varies depending on the weight, preference, etc. of the rider.
From this point of view, it is desired that the quantity of elastic deformation, or the cushioning property, of the saddle body (1) caused when a rider is seated thereon can be individually adjusted in accordance with weights and preferences about the cushioning property of the individual drivers.
With conventional bicycle saddles, however, it is impossible to adjust the quantity of elastic deformation or the cushioning property of the saddle body (1) when a rider is seated. Hence, especially with racing bicycles, riders are required to find bicycle saddles having cushioning properties suited to their own body weights and preferences from among a variety of bicycle saddles available on the market. However, it is extremely difficult to find such agreeable saddles for bicycles.